Hello everyone!
I'm about to buy my very first air gun - a Gamo Hunter Extreme. I've recently bought a piece of land in the middle of nowhere, and I've come to find that there's a lot of varmint around. Not a big deal, right? Just get a .177 or .22, and get it over with.
However, here's the catch. I've built a log cabin on the property as a temporary home until I begin working on the construction of my actual house in January. Last week, I was woken up in the middle of the night by the loud barking and growling of my two dogs outside, and a third, rather unnerving, grunting noise. I opened the door and shined my flashlight at where the sound was coming from, and I saw about 3-4 hogs standing at the edge of the forest, engaged in some kind of showdown with my dogs. I yelled, but the hogs didn't even flinch. Because I was really worried about my dogs, I just thought "screw it", grabbed an axe off the cabin wall, and ran out waving my arms around and yelling. That did the trick, but I practically shat my pants.
So what's the problem here? Gun laws in my country are very complicated and require you to go through a long and tedious process in order to be granted permission for gun ownership. I can't sit around for over a year (the minimum time it takes to acquire the license) knowing that these animals might show up at my doorstep again, and after one of my friends confronted me with the sort of damage a hog can do to your leg if you fight it up close and personal, I don't feel like doing any more of those Rambo impressions.
I was planning on buying an air gun anyways because of all the small game around my property, but now I've decided I want my air gun to be a backup for killing hogs too. I know what you're thinking: "most air guns really aren't meant for that sort of game", but right now it's all I've got. I've looked around, and the Gamo Hunter Extreme seems to do the trick - youtube has a few videos of people going out with the gun and successfully taking out a hog.
With all that being said, this gun comes in two calibers (three, actually, but the .177 can't possibly be heavy enough to take out a hog, even though there are youtube videos of people doing it). It's available in .22 caliber at a speed of 950fps, and it's available in .25 caliber at a speed of 750fps. With PBA ammo, that gets ramped up to about 1290fps for the .22 caliber and 1000fps for the .25 caliber.
Ultimately, I don't mind putting down a few more bucks for the PBA ammo if it means getting the right sort of speed for maximum hog take-down chances, but at the same time it'd be nice if I didn't have to rely too much on fancy schmancy ammo just to get the job done. In fact, this reluctance to constantly have to use PBA ammo is kind of what got me here, so a part of me really wants to go for the .22 if that does the trick just fine, though on the other hand, I've seen .25's doing some really nice stuff, so the other part of me is rooting for the .25. As you can see, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.
As far as aim and accuracy go; I've been an avid shooter in air rifle competitions (.177) in my early/mid twenties (I'm 32 now), so I still expect to be relatively proficient. Of course, I'll have to brush up and all that, but I'll have plenty of small game to practice on.
So, all things considered, could any of you fine people give me some advice? Is the added speed of the .22 caliber a better trade-off than the bigger size of the .25? Or does the .25 make up for its underwhelming fps count by packing a big enough punch? I might also add that the distance between me and the hogs is going to be around 30-50 yards, or more. Help me out here!
I'm about to buy my very first air gun - a Gamo Hunter Extreme. I've recently bought a piece of land in the middle of nowhere, and I've come to find that there's a lot of varmint around. Not a big deal, right? Just get a .177 or .22, and get it over with.
However, here's the catch. I've built a log cabin on the property as a temporary home until I begin working on the construction of my actual house in January. Last week, I was woken up in the middle of the night by the loud barking and growling of my two dogs outside, and a third, rather unnerving, grunting noise. I opened the door and shined my flashlight at where the sound was coming from, and I saw about 3-4 hogs standing at the edge of the forest, engaged in some kind of showdown with my dogs. I yelled, but the hogs didn't even flinch. Because I was really worried about my dogs, I just thought "screw it", grabbed an axe off the cabin wall, and ran out waving my arms around and yelling. That did the trick, but I practically shat my pants.
So what's the problem here? Gun laws in my country are very complicated and require you to go through a long and tedious process in order to be granted permission for gun ownership. I can't sit around for over a year (the minimum time it takes to acquire the license) knowing that these animals might show up at my doorstep again, and after one of my friends confronted me with the sort of damage a hog can do to your leg if you fight it up close and personal, I don't feel like doing any more of those Rambo impressions.
I was planning on buying an air gun anyways because of all the small game around my property, but now I've decided I want my air gun to be a backup for killing hogs too. I know what you're thinking: "most air guns really aren't meant for that sort of game", but right now it's all I've got. I've looked around, and the Gamo Hunter Extreme seems to do the trick - youtube has a few videos of people going out with the gun and successfully taking out a hog.
With all that being said, this gun comes in two calibers (three, actually, but the .177 can't possibly be heavy enough to take out a hog, even though there are youtube videos of people doing it). It's available in .22 caliber at a speed of 950fps, and it's available in .25 caliber at a speed of 750fps. With PBA ammo, that gets ramped up to about 1290fps for the .22 caliber and 1000fps for the .25 caliber.
Ultimately, I don't mind putting down a few more bucks for the PBA ammo if it means getting the right sort of speed for maximum hog take-down chances, but at the same time it'd be nice if I didn't have to rely too much on fancy schmancy ammo just to get the job done. In fact, this reluctance to constantly have to use PBA ammo is kind of what got me here, so a part of me really wants to go for the .22 if that does the trick just fine, though on the other hand, I've seen .25's doing some really nice stuff, so the other part of me is rooting for the .25. As you can see, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.
As far as aim and accuracy go; I've been an avid shooter in air rifle competitions (.177) in my early/mid twenties (I'm 32 now), so I still expect to be relatively proficient. Of course, I'll have to brush up and all that, but I'll have plenty of small game to practice on.
So, all things considered, could any of you fine people give me some advice? Is the added speed of the .22 caliber a better trade-off than the bigger size of the .25? Or does the .25 make up for its underwhelming fps count by packing a big enough punch? I might also add that the distance between me and the hogs is going to be around 30-50 yards, or more. Help me out here!
